1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for making recommendations in a social networking system based on personal communication information and a social networking system incorporating same. The method and system are particularly adapted to an environment where the personal communication information is obtained from a mobile communications device such as a mobile phone. It is in this context that the invention will be hereafter described.
2. Background
The following discussion of the background to the invention is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention. However, it should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgment or admission that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in any jurisdiction as at the priority date of the application.
Social networking systems, such as those operated by the websites Friendster (www.friendster.com), MySpace (www.myspace.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com) are “pro-active” based systems. In this sense, a user of the system must identify and thereafter invite other users (typically friends or family) to join their social network. Inviting a user in this manner can be initiated in a direct way in situations where the other user's handle is already known. Alternatively, it can be initiated in an indirect way where the other user's handle is identified through a search. For example, a search of all those users who are members of the website who attended the same high school as the user searching. Once a friend's user handle is identified, an invite is forwarded to them.
Alternative systems, such as the commercial network system operated by LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), offer the user the results of automated searches based on predetermined criteria. The user may then review these results to determine those other users who they wish to invite to become part of their social network. However, the fact that the predetermined criteria upon which recommendations are based are made without any real knowledge of a personal link between the user and the person suggested for an invite. To illustrate by example, the fact that two people worked at the same company or attended the same school does not necessarily mean that they know each other.
Furthermore, such queries are highly dependent on the ability of other users to provide accurate information in their profiles. The omission of relevant information or simple oversight on the part of a user in respect of the information upon which such searches are based can result in people within a user's social network who are also members of the social networking site not being identified in any automatic search.
Thus, the problem with these prior art systems is that the user must perform a significant level of work in either:                building up their social network by a series of separate invites; or        reviewing search results proposed by the social network to determine whether an invite should be sent to such people.        
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system whereby automatic recommendations for inclusion in a person's social network are made based on real social contact information between the user and the person the subject of the recommendation.